This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119(a) based on French Patent Application No. 99 04296 filed Apr. 1, 1999.
This invention relates to the field of telecommunications, in particular to mobile phone equipment.
Indeed, it is known that telecommunication system operators wish to offer many complementary services, beyond the mere telephone communication service. E.g., this can involve options or functions offering various additional services managed by an operator, such as indications relating to the account of the equipment owner, and/or a service provider (who can be the operator), such as the reservation of a cinema ticket or the broadcasting of information classified by subject.
In order to provide these various services, it is necessary to transmit and manage specific data in telecommunication equipment. This data transmitted by the operator is called hereafter xe2x80x9coperator dataxe2x80x9d.
This invention relates in particular to the processing of such operator data in telecommunication equipment.
The inventive telecommunication equipment may in particular, but not exclusively, be a radiotelephone (or mobile equipment, or ME according to the terminology of GSM for xe2x80x9cGlobal System for Mobile communicationsxe2x80x9d), e.g. compatible with a radiocommunication system of the type of GSM, DCS 1800 (for xe2x80x9cDigital Cellular System 1800 MHzxe2x80x9d), PCS 1900 (for xe2x80x9cPersonal Communication Systemxe2x80x9d), DECT (for xe2x80x9cDigital European Cordless Telecommunicationsxe2x80x9d), or else UMTS (for xe2x80x9cUniversal Mobile Telecommunication Systemxe2x80x9d).
The technical specifications of this type of equipment require it to be capable of transmitting and receiving alphanumerical-type messages, conventionally called short messages (or xe2x80x9cSMSxe2x80x9d, for xe2x80x9cShort Message Servicexe2x80x9d).
One of the applications of such short messages is to enable one user to communicate with another one. This is referred to as xe2x80x9cshort user messagesxe2x80x9d. E.g., they inform the user that he has received a voice message on his answering machine.
Another application of such short messages is to enable the operator to transmit the above-mentioned operator data to the equipment. This is then referred to as xe2x80x9cshort operator messagesxe2x80x9d.
Short messages are composed of a header field and an alphanumerical data field, or text field.
In general, there are the following classes of short messages:
class 0: short messages simply displayed fleetingly, but not stored;
class 1: short messages stored in the memory of the telecommunication equipment;
class 2: short messages stored in the memory of a subscriber identity module (or SIM card) with which the equipment is cooperating;
class 3: short messages stored in the memory of a peripheral (e.g. a notebook computer connected to the telecommunication equipment);
undetermined class: short messages having no predetermined storage destination.
Whatever the memory involved (that of the telecommunication equipment, the subscriber identity module or the peripheral), the number of locations is limited to ten or twenty short message locations.
Short messages received or to be transmitted that are stored in memory (short message list) can be read for instance on the telecommunication equipment display, by scrolling.
Of course, the equipment comprises a management means enabling the user to delete short messages partially or totally. In general, the user deletes short messages once he has viewed them.
We will now discuss the problems related to the problems of managing the short message memory of the subscriber identity module. Obviously, the same problems arise for managing other short message memories.
At present, short message memory management applies in the same way to both short user messages and short operator messages.
And yet, this single management poses annoying problems for the operator. Indeed, it often happens that the user manages his short message memory badly, in particular by not regularly deleting short messages that have become obsolete. This results in the congestion of the short message memory and therefore the impossibility of receiving further short messages. Although such impossibility may be hardly annoying for a user, it may prevent the operator from providing the correct operation of certain services. E.g., the operator can no longer inform the user by means of a short message that he has received a voice message on this answering machine.
Furthermore, this single management may make the user prematurely delete short operator messages, before they are processed by the equipment or the subscriber identity module.
One solution could be to store short operator messages in a memory other than that used for storing short user messages. However, such a solution is hardly acceptable and cannot be chosen, because it does not comply with current standards, and implementing it would be complicated and costly.
In particular, it is the object of this invention to compensate for the various disadvantages of the state of the art.
More precisely, it is an object of this invention to provide a technique making it possible to facilitate and improve the management and storage of short xe2x80x9coperatorxe2x80x9d messages.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a technique that gives the operator the opportunity of being able to route his short operator messages securely.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a technique making it possible to avoid the deletion of short operator messages before they are being processed by the equipment.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a technique that does not require any adaptation to the telecommunication equipment.
It is an object of the invention to provide such a technique that is compatible with current telecommunication equipment.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide such a technique enabling the optimization of available resource allocation.
These various objects, as well as others that will be apparent subsequently, will be achieved according to the invention using a telecommunication equipment comprising a means for storing short messages received and/or to be transmitted, each of said short messages comprising a header field and a data field, said storage means comprising N short message storage locations, characterized in that at least one of said storage locations is reserved for storing short messages with a predetermined address, set by the operator implementing said telecommunication equipment.
The general principle of the invention therefore consists in distinguishing between two separate and partitioned areas within the same memory, one for storing short operator messages, and the other for storing short user messages.
Reserving storage locations for short operator messages allows the operator to transmit his short operator messages without the risk of memory congestion or conflicts with short user messages, or even accidental deletion by the user.
Indeed, only the operator is capable of acting on the contents of such reserved locations for modifying and/or updating them.
It should be noted that the term operator not only designates the operator of the telecommunication network, but also a possible service provider contracted by the operator.
Preferably, said predetermined address is permanently stored in the memory area corresponding to the short message header field of said dedicated storage location.
It is known that the management means of the storage means generally comprises a control for totally deleting its contents. This deleting operation can be risky, and as explained above (and thus being another reason for those skilled in the art not to envisage the solution of the invention). Such risks are eliminated, according to the invention, by reloading the address into the memory area corresponding to the header field immediately after said deletion. It is the reloading of the address that allows the location involved to remain assigned to storing a short operator message.
Of course, in parallel with address reloading, it can be envisaged to reload also the data associated with the corresponding short message into the memory area corresponding to the data field immediately after deletion. This allows short operator messages not yet processed to be retained.
If reloading only involves the address of the dedicated storage location, the operator may decide to send again the short operator messages not yet processed that had been stored and have been deleted.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, reloading said address is done from a buffer memory, whereto said address has been transferred before said deletion.
It is interesting to note that reloading can also imply xe2x80x9coperatorxe2x80x9d data concerning the reloaded address.
Such a buffer memory is advantageously located inside the subscriber identity module.
According to a specific embodiment of the invention, said storage means comprises at least three storage locations dedicated to storing short messages corresponding to at least three predetermined addresses.
However, it is clear that the invention does not impose any constraint as to the number of storage locations reserved for storing short xe2x80x9coperatorxe2x80x9d messages, within space available.
In this specific embodiment, said predetermined addresses respectively correspond to:
information related to an answering machine management service (providing in particular notification through short operator messages of voice messages existing in the answering machine).
information corresponding to a download message;
information related to the user""s telephone consumption.
Advantageously, at least one of said predetermined addresses is downloadable.
In this way, the operator can, at any time, modify and/or update and/or add new predetermined addresses, corresponding for instance to new services.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a radiotelephone of a radiocommunication system is involved.
E.g., said radiocommunication system belongs to the group of:
GSM-type radiocommunication systems;
DCS 1800-type radiocommunication systems;
PCS 1900-type radiocommunication systems;
UMTS-type radiocommunication systems;
DECT-type radiocommunication systems.
Of course, this list of radiocommunication systems is not exhaustive.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, said storage means and/or said buffer memory are at least partially present on a removable data medium to be inserted into a corresponding drive of said telecommunication equipment, and said removable data medium is integrated at least partially into a subscriber identity module.
The invention also relates to a method of managing means for storing short messages received and/or to be transmitted, implemented by the telecommunication equipment described before. In particular, such a method comprises a step of reserving at least one of said storage locations for storing short messages with a predetermined address, set by the operator implementing said telecommunication equipment.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from reading the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, provided by way of example and not to be restrictive, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: